Annual Notifications

Advanced Notification of Pesticides

Liberty Central School District must notify the public that pesticide products may be used in school buildings during the year. Parents, guardians, and staff may request 48-hour advance, written notification that includes the date and place where pesticides will be used, the EPA registration number, and whom to contact for more information. To make a request, call the Business Office at (845) 292-6171.

APPR Scores

All parents/guardians have the right to obtain the APPR quality ratings and composite effectiveness scores for their child’s current teacher(s) and principal(s) once the scores are officially available in accordance with state law. Requests must be submitted in writing on a school-provided form. For more information about the APPR form click here.

Asbestos Management Plan

The district maintains an asbestos management plan, which is available for review during regular business hours in each principal’s office and the district office.

Attendance Policy

The attendance policy can be found in the annual student handbook. Student handbooks are distributed at the start of each school year and are available on all school homepages. Board policy #5100 also outlines a comprehensive student attendance policy.

Body Mass Index Reporting

The state requires schools to track each student’s Body Mass Index (BMI) and weight status category as part of school health examinations. Every year, the New York State Department of Health will survey some schools for the number of pupils in each of six possible weight status categories. If the state surveys LCSD, the district will share summary group data only, and will not share individual names or information. Parents who wish to exclude their child’s data from such group calculations must contact the nurse in their child’s school building.

Cell Phones, Electronic Devices

No personal sound equipment or electronic devices of any type should be seen during the school day. Students may use their cell phones outside of school instruction hours. During the school day, students and parents can contact each other by phone in the main office of a school. Board policies #5300 and #5695 expand further on this topic.

Child Find

Child Find, an ongoing effort to identify and evaluate people 21 and younger who are physically, mentally, communicatively and/or emotionally disabled, is in progress within the district. Parents or guardians of children with disabilities between the ages of 3-21 are encouraged to contact the Student Services Department at (845) 292-5400 ext. 5106 for information about support services that may be available to them. Children must be registered in the district to meet with a representative from the Student Services Office.

Code of Conduct

The Liberty Central School District Code of Conduct applies to all students, school personnel, parents, and visitors when on school property, including buses and other school-owned vehicles, or when attending a school-sponsored function. Information on it is shared with students at the beginning of every school year and in student handbooks. Board policy #5300 also outlines the district code of conduct.

Child Abuse Hotline Notification

If you suspect a child is being abused or maltreated (neglected), report it by calling 1-800-342-3720, a toll-free 24-hour hotline operated by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police department. Information about reporting child abuse and maltreatment (neglect) is available online at the Office of Children and Family Services website.

Community Eligibility Option

Liberty Central School District serves free meals – both lunch and breakfast – to all students, regardless of their income status courtesy of a national program called the Community Eligibility Option. The program is funded by the federal government and administered by the state at no cost to the district. Parents do not need to take any action to participate. Students can continue to purchase extra food items, such as snacks, for a fee. If you have any questions, please contact the district’s Food Service Director, Dara Smith at (845) 292-5400, ext. 2040.

Dignity for All Students Act (DASA)

The Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) seeks to provide New York students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function.

Liberty Central School District is committed to providing a positive school environment where all students feel safe and can focus on learning. If you or someone you know has experienced harassment or bullying, please contact a school building’s Dignity Act Coordinator or use Anonymous Alerts reporting system to report urgent information confidentially. To learn more about DASA and who to contact, click here.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students over 18 years of age and parents certain rights with respect to students’ education records. The FERPA Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) affords parents certain rights regarding district surveys, collection and use of information for marketing purposes, and certain physical exams. To learn about your rights, click here.

Homeless Students

Parents of homeless students and unaccompanied youths (youths not in the physical custody of a parent) have the right to attend the school they previously attended or to attend school in the district of current location; the right to be enrolled even though the admission requirements have not been completed and prior student records are not available; and the right to transportation to and from school. For more information about eligibility and the McKinney-Vento Act, click here.

Idling School Buses on School Grounds

State education law requires that all school districts ensure every driver of a school bus or other school vehicle turns off the engine of the vehicle while waiting for passengers to load or offload. The law provides for certain exceptions when necessary for heating, mechanical or emergency circumstances.

Maintenance Records

Liberty, in compliance with Public Law 94-192, maintains in each of its schools’ programs for students who have been identified as having a disability. The confidential records of students with disabilities are kept in the Committee of Special Education’s files, located in the middle school. CSE designates, in writing, school personnel who have access to these records. A child’s records are always available for review by the child’s parents/guardians. Call the Office of Student Services at (845) 292-5400, ext. 5102. For more information about the Parents’ Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security, click here.

No Child Left Behind Act

In accordance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, parents and guardians have the right to request information about the professional qualifications of his/her child’s classroom teachers. Specifically, you have the right to request the following information concerning his/her child’s teachers:

Whether the teacher has met New York state qualifications and licensing criteria
for the grade levels and subject areas he or she teaches;

Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or another provisional status
through which the state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived;

The teacher’s college major; whether the teacher has any advanced degrees or
certifications and, if so, the subject of those degrees or certifications; and

Lastly, if your child receives services from any instructional assistants or similar
paraprofessionals, the qualifications of those individuals.

Requests to receive any of the above information may be directed, in writing, to your school building principal.

Non-discrimination Policy

Liberty does not discriminate on the basis of sex, color, religion, creed, disability or race in the educational programs or activities that it conducts, in accordance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments. This policy includes the following areas: recruitment and appointment of employees, employment pay and benefits, and student access to educational programs, course offerings, and student activities. For more information, contact the district official responsible for Title IX, Dr. Kathleen Bressler, at (845) 292-5400, ext. 5102.

Promotion and Retention of Students

Early Identification/Intervention

Classroom teachers are expected to make every effort to identify early those students at risk of failing. The building principal and the parents/guardian must be notified promptly if retention is anticipated, and a special support program shall be designed for each child identified as in danger of failing. Such support services may include, but are not limited to, individualized assistance before, during or after the school day; remedial classes; a change in instructional treatment, and, where appropriate, referral to the Committee on Special Education for evaluation.

Promotion/Retention

Building principals may establish written standards for promotion or retention within the school units to which they are assigned, subject to the guidelines of the superintendent and the approval of the board of education.

At the elementary level, students who pass the basic subjects of Reading, English, Mathematics, Spelling, Social Studies, and Science will be promoted. Students who do not make satisfactory progress in one or more of the basic subjects shall have their cases considered on an individual basis and may be retained.

At the high school level, promotion from one class to the next shall be contingent upon passing all required subjects and the accumulation of 4 or 5 units of credit at each level.

Academic standards

Building principals shall be responsible for ensuring that written standards for student progress at each grade level are available to parents and others upon request. Such academic standards are to be forwarded to the superintendent of schools each year.

Retention

Retention is generally not recommended at the elementary and middle school levels. The school psychologist and the parents shall meet with the building principal and teacher(s) to consider the relative merits of promotion and retention before a decision is made. Factors to be considered include teacher recommendation; classroom achievement and attitude; standardized test scores; social, emotional and physical development; results of the family conference; and, for identified students, recommendations by the Committee on Special Education. If a consensus cannot be reached, the decision of the building principal shall be final.

No student will be retained without an appropriate educational plan defining what will occur that is instructionally different for the student. Once the educational plan has been implemented, the student will be monitored regularly. The educational plan will be revised until the student demonstrates acceptable performance.

Release of Student Directory Information

From time to time, student directory information, including photos, is published on the district website, in school publications or released to the media to recognize student achievement or depict activities in Liberty schools. Parents who object to the disclosure of their child’s directory information should notify their child’s building principal in writing on or before Sept. 30 of each school year.

Release of Student Information to Military Recruiters

Legislation generally requires school districts receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to give military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as they provide to post secondary institutions or to prospective employers. Schools are also generally required to provide students’ names, addresses, and telephone listings to military recruiters when requested. If you would prefer that your child’s information to not be released, contact the high school’s Guidance Office.

NOTE: To locate all registered sex offenders within Liberty, enter “12754” in the zip code box, then <search>

Student Privacy

Parents have the right to inspect all instructional material that will be used for a survey, analysis, or evaluation as part of a U.S. Department of Education (DOE)-funded program. In addition, no minor student may, without parental consent, take part in a survey, analysis or evaluation funded in whole or in part by the U.S. DOE that reveals information concerning:

Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent;

Mental or psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;

Sex behavior or attitudes;

Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating or demeaning behavior;

Critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have
close family relationships;

Legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of
lawyers, physicians and ministers; and

Religious practices, affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent

Income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation
in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program).